Skip to footer

Five ways to boost your credit score

With the huge amount of information about credit scores out there, it can be difficult to figure out what 'tips' will actually help your credit. Here are five proven, relatively simple ways to raise your credit score. 

|
Richard Drew/AP/File
A Citi Visa credit card at opening of the Superdry store in New York's Times Square. Keeping a close eye on your credit card balances, and paying them off on schedule, is a good way to keep your credit score on track.

You can find a huge amount of information about credit scores, and it can be very difficult to figure out what will actually help your credit. Some credit “tips” have little impact on scores, while others can even harm them.

Fortunately, there are some relatively simple ways to boost your score. Here are five moves to consider now.

Focus on your score — not your income

As a credit expert, I encounter hundreds of high-net-worth individuals who assume they have a great credit score because of their wealth. But your income has nothing to do with your credit score. If you have $7 million in the bank but are late on your credit card payments, your credit score will still be poor. Missing a payment will affect anyone’s credit score. So make all payments on time, no matter what.

Keep a good balance-to-credit-limit ratio

When you want your credit scores to be as high as possible — for example, when you are applying for a mortgage — keep your outstanding balance on each card below 10% of the credit limit for a few months prior. So, if your credit card has a charge limit of $1,500, keep your outstanding balance below $150. It’s also helpful to have a limited number of credit cards with outstanding balances. Do not close credit cards; just pay off the balances.

Become an authorized user

If done correctly, being added as an authorized user on someone else’s older credit card account can boost your credit score. Since the average age of credit accounts has an impact on scores, being placed on an old card can age your credit and add points. But you have to be careful. The individual should have a strong payment history and low credit card balances.

In addition, some card issuers reward cardholders with extra cash, points or miles for adding an authorized user.

Pay attention to when balances are paid off

Many people assume that when they pay off their balance on a credit card, that fact shows up right away in their credit score. But most credit card companies report customer balances to the three major credit bureaus at the beginning of each month, and it can take 30 to 60 days for your credit score to reflect that. Use this knowledge before deciding when to apply for a mortgage or personal loan. A higher credit score can help you win better terms on a loan.

Look into credit repair, but carefully

Using the right credit repair expert can help you see improvements in your credit score. There are complex laws involving creditors, credit bureaus, collections companies, judgments, tax debt and more. A seasoned expert can help you navigate this confusing maze, and you may be able to see a boost in your credit score of 10 to 200 points in just months.

The key is to choose a reputable company, and to make sure they review your credit before taking you on. Without a full credit analysis, there is really no way of knowing whether a credit profile can be improved. To allow a prospective client to sign up for credit repair services without a thorough credit analysis would be unethical.

Learn more about Tracy at NerdWallet’s Ask an Advisor.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Five ways to boost your credit score
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Saving-Money/2015/0330/Five-ways-to-boost-your-credit-score
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe